updated February 12, 2009

Study Mission: pre-conference Thursday 11 June

Tentative Schedule: 9:00 Pickup at Ramada
                               17:00 Return to Ramada
(Cost is $40 per person
and includes bus transportation, all admission fees, and snacks.)

Explore three different cultures, Native-American, African-American, and Southern Gentry, with private, guided tours. Lunch will be on your own to give you a chance to experience the variety of food served by Macon's restaurants.

Ocmulgee National Monument

The Ocmulgee National Monument preserves a continuous record of human life in the Southeast from the earliest times to the present. From Ice-Age hunters to the Muscogee (Creek) people of historic times, there is evidence here of 12,000 years of human habitation. A park ranger will guide us as we climb ancient Indian mounds, visit inside a ceremonial earth-lodge, and study archaeological remains dating back 12,000 years. We will enter a reconstructed council chamber of the Mississippian people. This building contains the original 1000 year old floor. A circle of seats and the symbolic bird effigy exemplify political and spiritual ideas of these people from the past.

The Hay House

The seven-level Hay House is considered the most advanced Civil War period building in America for its style, craftsmanship, and technological innovations, such as hot and cold running water, central heat, a speaker-tube system, in-house kitchen, and an elaborate ventilation system. It was built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style between 1855 and 1859 and has been called the "Palace of the South."

Tubman African American Museum

This museum is dedicated to exploring the cultural heritage of African Americans. It was named in honor of Harriet Tubman, a former slave who led some 300 people to freedom as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. It includes cultural artifacts, folk and African art, rotating exhibits, and a mural spanning two walls that took decades to complete and depicts African-American culture in the region.

No tour is organized for after the conference; however the The Macon-Bibb County Convention & Visitors Bureau can help you plan your own tour of other sites in and around Macon.